MULTIPLE MURDER ACCUSED GET HEFTY SENTENCES

BY ERIC MATOME KGOMO
Siyabuswa: The Mpumalanga division of the high court, which was sitting in Delmas, has on Friday 9 July handed down hefty sentences against four accused, Lefa Mahashole (31), Thabiso Ramabele (30), Thato Damane (27) and 50-year-old Tankiso Morei for their involvement in the gruesome murder of three victims.
According to the police, the deceased, Lucky Mahlangu (36), Tsotang Ntjebe (44) and Bulelani Gqoboka (48) were all murdered by the accused in December 2016.
Brigadier Leonard Hlathi, Mpumalanga Provincial Police Spokesperson, said the court reached its decision to impose the sentences after details were heard on how a group of heavily armed men from Lesotho, went on rampage, where they terrorised community members at Embalenhle.
“It is said that the quartet robbed defenseless victims of their personal items and also targeted business owners in the area. Some of their victims were killed while others survived the ordeal,” Hlathi said. He said one of the victims, Mahlangu, was unlucky when he was ambushed and sadly killed by the accused whilst in his business premises, on 16 December 2016.
“Gqoboka, who was a mine worker became a victim as well as his life was not spared as he too was brutally murdered by these men. Gqoboka was shot execution style inside a bus on 20 December 2016, whilst travelling to work during a period where some of his colleagues were on strike,” explained Hlathi.
He added that the third victim, Ntjebe, sadly succumbed to his injuries after he was shot on 22 December 2016.
“The police opened cases regarding these heinous incidents where a team of experts were assembled to conduct an investigation. The astute members worked tirelessly in tracing the suspects and they made a breakthrough where the four were sniffed out from their different hiding places between December 2016 and January 2017,” detailed Hlathi.
He indicated that during the arrests, Damane and Morei were found in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.
“The police managed to link the four men to the three murders as well as robbery incidents and the accused were therefore charged accordingly. They then went before court and were successfully convicted hence their sentencing,” he said.
Hlathi said Mahashule was slapped with two life sentences with an additional 104 years, meanwhile, Ramabele got his share of two life sentences with 45 years imprisonment for his evil deeds.
“Damane and Morei, on the other hand, were sentenced to one life imprisonment each with an additional 31 years in prison for their crimes,” Hlathi said.
He said Ramabele, Damane and Morei were each sentenced to an additional ten years imprisonment for two counts of attempted murder.
“The accused were further sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and four years for possession of illegal firearms. Damane and Morei were further sentenced to five years imprisonment each on another count of possession of unlicensed firearm and one year each for unlawful possession of ammunition,” Hlathi explained.
He said all four accused were also sentenced to one year imprisonment each on three counts of unlawful possession of ammunition, while Mahashule was further sentenced to two years imprisonment for two counts of pointing with a firearm.
“The court has ordered for the sentences to run concurrently with the life sentences. Each accused was further found to be unfit to possess a firearm,” informed Hlathi.
Provincial Commissioner of the Police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela, has lauded the exceptional work done by the Investigation team, the prosecution, as well as the Judiciary.
“We are proud of the commitment and hard work shown by law enforcers involved in ensuring that justice is served for the victims. We hope that the sentence will serve as a deterrence to other would be criminals,” she said.
Manamela said harsher sentences like these ones are befitting so that others may refrain from unbecoming behaviour.